PTSD
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The Cost of Staying: Narcissistic Abuse
The devastating cost of being in a narcissistic relationship is often brushed over as if once a person leaves such a relationship, the price is paid. Nothing could be further from the truth. An abusive marriage is a bit like a predatory loan. You will keep paying interest long after the price of the loan is paid. I wish more material existed twenty-five years ago when I debated about divorcing. I didn’t realize then that, in one sense, I was already too late. I could escape in body, but true freedom would come much later. So I thought I would put together a list of what staying with a…
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Mass Trauma: 5 Steps to Protecting Your Mental Health
We are currently suffering a global mass trauma. Even if we don’t come down with COVID 19, we live under the threat of it. Living in fear is one of the primary precursors to PTSD. I did a little research and quickly found that primary and secondary stressors can cause significant challenges to one’s mental health. For many of us, the daily news tally of the dead and the enforced quarantine is a primary stressor. For others, add to this contracting the disease or watching a loved one struggle and perhaps die, is an even greater primary stressor. The secondary stressors are beginning to add up. Children feel the loss…
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How the Church Promotes Abuse (without meaning to)
I dislike writing any criticism about the church. She is the Bride of Christ and as such, is holy and set apart. And these days, the criticism of Christians by other Christians is often abusive, condemning, and ugly. This particular issue, however, weighs on my heart and mind. I bring it up humbly, qualifying my topic with the knowledge that not all churches or Christians, by any means, have this problem. I minister to many women, and actually, quite a number of men. Each of them finds themselves mired in abusive marriages with unrepentant spouses. In some cases, the spouses regularly attend church and spout Bible verses all the time.…
